Summary

The Australian Historic Shipwreck Preservation Project (AHSPP) is a three-year national project funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Researchers and cultural heritage managers from ten Australian state, territory and federal partners and three universities have collaborated to investigate the long-term efficacy of reburial and stabilisation of heavily impacted submerged timber sites.

The AHSPP has focussed on two significant wooden shipwrecks: the colonial trader Clarence (1850), in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, and the ex-slaver James Matthews (1841), in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia.

Both sites have been researched, excavated and actively managed for decades, and have been subjected to ongoing anthropogenic and environmental impacts resulting in significant loss of structural remains. Two in situ preservation methods are being trialled and the sites are being monitored to assess the long-term viability of the techniques. This will inform the development of practical protocols for in-situ preservation of wooden shipwrecks and associated artefacts.